Document Type

Department/Program

Publication Date

Series

Abstract

Price flexibility coefficients estimated for ex-vessel prices of Virginia hard clams indicate a very small (4.292 x 10-6 to 6.994 x 10-6%) decrease in price would occur given a 1% increase in the quantity supplied by Virginia harvesters. Data used were monthly landings of Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland and North Carolina over the period 1960-1979. Fifty-eight percent of the ex-vessel price changes are not explained by the supply response model used, suggesting other market and consumer demand factors play a large role in determining ex-vessel price. This conclusion is reached considering the historical range of production 1n Virginia. Possible legislative changes to aid the fishery are: (1) Allowing the use of efficient harvesting technologies on private leased bottom, (2) Consider seasonal use of efficient harvesting technologies to take advantage of seasonal peaks in ex-vessel prices, (3) Institute a new statistical reporting system that reports the catch/day of each harvester and the proportion of each market grade caught, (4) Establishment of subaqueous bottom ar1~as specifically for the field culture of hard clams, and (5) Set and 1~nforce a minimum legal cull size.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21220/V5MB25

Keywords

Shellfish, Fisheries, Virginia

Funding

Financial support for this work was provided by NOAA} National Sea Grant Program, through the VIMS Marine Advisory Service under Grant Numbers NA-BlAA-D-00025 and NA-82AA~D-000025, Project Number A/EP-1.